Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-29907776-20180617022636/@comment-6769189-20180629035906

DMC4's History of Devil May Cry states that Dante was still trying to live up to Sparda's legacy, implying that he is not as strong as Sparda. The Savior wasn't powered by the Sparda sword, but was controlled by it. Nero, by Sanctus's own admission, did not have as strong a blood link to Sparda as Dante and DMC4 overall shows us that Dante outclasses Nero by miles. Taking on the Savior isn't really a Sparda level feat.

Abigail was one of the 4 Demon Kings but Sid wasn't noted to have the full extent of Abigails power. We also don't know if the Demon Kings refer to Mundus/Argosax/demon king before Mundus. The anime seems to be set shortly after 1 and Dante couldnt take on Mundus without Spardas power and even then, barely won.

Defeating Argosax may be the point where Dante surpassed Sparda, but even its questionable if Argosax was as strong as Mundus, seeing as how Mundus was sealed away by Sparda but was still considered the King of Hell while Argosax only conquered a majority of Hell.

Sparda didnt need help sealing away Argosax.